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Missed opportunity with Arison interview
Tuesday, 08 Oct, 2009
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The first day of ABTA’s Travel Convention was a huge missed opportunity to hear the inside track from the most powerful man in the cruise industry.
The day started well with a review of the year from presenter Jeremy Vine – although I suspect he’d had rather a lot of help with the research into the travel events of the past 12 months – and ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer gave a powerful opening address about the need for financial protection.
However, the main attraction was the chance to put Micky Arison, the chairman and chief executive officer of Carnival Corporation, on the spot.
But the interview was weak, with far too much focus on an old story about a fight among some chavs on a cruise and some superficial chit-chat. I attach no blame to Mr Arison for this, as he came across as friendly, humble and likeable. You can only answer the questions you’re asked.
Surely Vine should have grilled him about why they had no plans to build any more ships, possible innovations for the future, the shape of cruising over the coming years, how the profile of passengers is changing, how the current climate has affected customers’ demands….I could go on.
The opportunity to put someone like Micky Arison on stage does not come around very often and it was completely blown.
There is no doubt that Vine is a successful presenter and journalist – and if he’s reading this he could point out that he is much more successful than me, so take that sunshine – and I’ve got a lot of time for him (not that he needs my approval). So how could he have presided over such a poor interview?
I don’t think that professional presenters/moderators need to know everything about the subject area. There’s no reason why someone like Vine shouldn’t preside over a motor trade convention, travel trade convention, or annual conference for stamp collectors. But if you are going to conduct an interview, surely you research the topic, talk to some influential players who know their stuff and get a handle on the subject.
I can only assume that Vine either hadn’t bothered doing any research or did some research but for some inexplicable reason didn’t use it. Or maybe he prepared thoroughly but decided anyway to make it a light-hearted chat. But in my opinion he had a very bad half an hour and with the amount Vine is presumably being paid, it isn’t good enough.
Today, we’ve got an interview with Peter Long, the top man from the biggest tour operator in the country, at a time when there are some crucial industry issues to discuss. What can we expect, a chat about where he goes on holiday?
ABTA has always wanted a big name to present at its Conventions, which is understandable, but rarely are the main interviews anything other than a disappointment.
Something has to change. Either they go for a moderator who knows the industry, but is not necessarily famous, or they go for the famous man/woman and insist they ask the big questions. Or perhaps they could go for a half-way house scenario, where someone like Vine could do the overall presenting and then bring in an industry expert/analyst to do the major interviews.
I’m sure plenty of people will read this and say this is just big mouth Skidmore putting forward his own case to present/moderate at the conference. Not necessarily. Frankly, I could have done a much better job of interviewing Arison, but then so could several people I could mention.
Why? Is it because I’m a better journalist than Vine? Are the people I’m thinking of better journalists than Vine? No. But I would take the opportunity to ask some tough questions.
Jeremy Skidmore
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